Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Dragonette Cellars Makes Wines that Rock

It's a sure sign his wines will be good when a winemaker says, "It's hard to distill that down into a quick answer," when you pose a question. Such is the case for Brandon Sparks-Gillis, who along with brothers John and Steve Dragonette, makes the wine at Dragonette Cellars, which has just moved into a new facility in Buellton. One of their tag phrases is "considered minimalism," and the emphasis is definitely on the considered. "We're more or less hands-off, quote-unquote, in the cellar, but that's a misnomer, like you're letting the wines go," Sparks-Gillis asserts. "We're not manipulating the wines much, but there's a great level of care. What's necessary is to preserve the quality of the fruit."